This is the first weekend when the majority of the country is playing league games (Quebec tips off next week), so it is as good a time as any to check in with the Top 10 teams ... especially with what happened to No. 1:

Carleton: The Ravens split, beating Western 79-74 Saturday after getting spanked 80-68 the night before in Windsor. It is not like anyone no one else in the OUA East is going to run the table against the West division, especially with Western and Windsor paired in the schedule.

It was a one-possession game several times down the stretch vs. Western, but Carleton never lost the lead, thanks to a couple threes from the corner by sophomore Cole Hobin (15 points). Aaron Doornekamp never left the floor and had 24 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, several of which were passes out of double teams for three-pointers.

Greg Layson has more details about Windsor's win at Big Man on Campus, including Ravens coach Dave Smart "all but calling Windsor the best team in the country."

Carleton also lost at the St. Denis Centre the last time they played their in the 2007 Wilson Cup. Doornekamp ended up taking more than one-third of their shots, shooting 8-of-22. Stu Turnbull had only eight shots all night. It all comes down to getting good looks. Windsor, between John Woldu, the rookie guard from London and backcourt mates Monty Hardware and Isaac Kuon,did a job on the Ravens on Friday.

Greg Surmacz, who got more more votes than Doornekamp for BMoC' pre-season all-star team, had a big night for the Lancers.

UBC: Small forward Brent Malish had it working from outsideand outside this weekend, which makes the T-Birds awfully tough, as they won 65-57 and 86-77 at UVic.

Malish had double-doubles in each game (15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds Friday, 16 & 13 Saturday), and he was 3-for-5 on threes in each game.

Malish and Chris Dyck, when they're each on, can be as good a 1-2 punch as you'll find.

Concordia: Play a two-game series against UQAM on Nov. 14-15.

Windsor: The Lancers should probably get nudged up to No. 3 after beating Carleton, but losing by two at home vs. Ottawa (77-75) Saturday.

Ottawa ended up taking twice as many foul shots in that game; Greg Surmacz and 6-foot-6 Kevin Cameron each fouled out and two of Windsor's heroes from Friday, Woldu and 6-6 Andre Smyth, ended up with four, which probably hurt, especially when Ottawa made a run in the second quarter.

Surmacz finished with 28 points and 15 rebounds on 8-of-15 shooting vs. Carleton, an all-Canadian night. Doornekamp went off for 33 and 17 against the Lancers last season, so there is a revenge element.

Smyth, the Windsor native who played two seasons of NCAA D-1 at Central Michigan, had eight points, six rebounds (second on the team on a night when Windsor went plus-11 against as Windsor was plus-11 on the boards) and also blocked two shots. Keep an eye on his numbers week by week.

Victoria: The upshot is the losses to UBC were both by single digits.

St. FX: Outlasted Saint Mary's 63-59 Thursday in what sounds like a defensive battle; Tyler Richards had a game-high 21 points. The AUS season starts in earnest next weekend.

Calgary: Saturday's 96-70 blowout of Regina was actually a five-point game going into the fourth quarter. Beating Brandon the night before might help the Dinos' cause in the coaches' poll.

Robbie Sihota (25 points) and Henry Bekkering (24) were big in Friday's 97-87 win over Brandon. The Dinos scored 62 points in the final 20 minutes.

Dalhousie: A new name to re-learn this weekend is George English, who's back with Memorial after a three-season absence. English was shining glass Saturday in St. John's, grabbing 10 rebounds in MUN's 74-71 win over the Tigers. The Tigers didn't make their threes (6-of-24) and was minus-16 on the boards.

Memorial has a new coach, Peter Benoite and almost an entirely new team, including some players who had left during the previous regime. That includes Christian Somerton, who had 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists on Saturday. Who knows if they can make the playoffs in the AUS, but at least they're not an automatic two points (or four, on some nights) in the standings.

The teams meet again Sunday.

Ottawa: They got the same result as their cross-town rivals, with Dax Dessureault being man of the match Saturday with a 20-point, seven-rebound, five-assist effort in the two-point win over Windsor.

The three Gee-Gees who scored in double figures, Dessureault, Donnie Gibson and Jacob Gibson-Bascombe, combined to go 16-of-16 at the foul line on the road.

Ottawa lost by 20 at Western Friday. Western/Windsor is probably the toughest road trip for an OUA East team, so it only makes sense that the two easternmost teams make it on the opening weekend.

The Gee-Gees are at Windsor Saturday. An 0-2 start is not the end of the world during the cross-over portion of the schedule. In terms of holding serve the OUA East, it is worth noting that Queen's upset Waterloo Friday. The Gee-Gees' game with Waterloo is a road game. .

McGill: Coach Craig Norman's Redmen are off this weekend and have a home-and-home with Bishop's next weekend. They were a solid 8-3 in non-conference play, losing to ranked Dalhousie and St. FX, along with Queen's.

1 comment:

I was at both Dinos games this weekend. The Regina game was painful to watch. It's as if the Cougars came to fight, not play basketball. I've never seen so many unsportmenlike fouls, and there were several intentional fouls, including a running tackle on Tyler Fidler that slammed his head into the backboard. Three of Regina's starters fouled out, and there were three incidents of near fist fights.

I like basketball because it's not like that. Kudos to the Dinos for protecting their players under attack, and playing like gentlemen.